Change is Okay
by cutie.number.one
Summary: Hermione has returned from a tough Summer of looking after her parents and her failed attempt at restoring their memory. She has had no contact with any of her friends and has ignored their owls. She is now returning for her last year at Hogwarts after the war. Changes are happening. Will she be able to keep her smile on? Or will her mask fade away. And where does Draco come in?
1. Chapter 1

**an:/ Hey guys, so this is my first fanfic and I'm going to be honest this is probably going to be shit but I don't really care if you enjoy it or not.**

 **...**

 **Although if u don't like it I would prefer constructive criticism and not people being like "this is shit" because I KNOW IT IS**

 **So with all due respects here is my first fanfic. Don't judge TOO harshly. Although if you have an opinion feel free to say it.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1:** The Beginning of The End

* * *

Hermione Granger stood outside King's Cross station. Summer had done her some good and she was very pretty and easy to look at. Her face was well defined and her hair had stayed a curly mess only now, it was only slightly easier to brush.

She was much more tanned than before, this was due to her being in Australia with her parents who still hadn't recovered from the memory charm she had placed on them. It was as if they had alzheimers, they had no response to the outer world and had  
/no recollection of anything that had happened since the day Hermione had been born. Almost like empty shell.

They still had no memory of who she was and that had been tough on her, having to look after them as if they were children. Putting a happy face on when she wasn't okay. Infact she thought that she should switch to Slytherin she had become that good  
/at hiding her emotions.

As for Harry and Ron, she had ignored their letters all Summer.

When the war was finished the media was craving information. Ron and Harry were fine with it. They went to interviews, partied and spent some downtime down at Bill and Fleur's place.

Meanwhile she took care of the people who had been affected by the war. She was there for George and Teddy all the while looking after her parents.

It's not to say that Harry and Ron had forgotten her. They hadn't, it was just that she never responded to their letters, and they were busy people with the war and all. They still thought about her every day, and were looking forward to seeing her  
/at the beginning of 8th year.

The only person Hermione had told about her parents was George. He had promised not tell anyone about them just like she, promised George she wouldn't tell anyone about how he felt about losing his better half. They had never been close before the war,  
/most of the conversations they had were of her telling the twins off.

After the war the Weasleys were so upset and mourning over Fred by themselves that they could barely look at George without thinking of Fred.

Hermione had been the only one who was there for him at a time when he needed comfort the most, and from that they built a mutual friendship.

She looked after Teddy Lupin for a two weeks while Andromeda took a break. Hermione had to temporarily move into their house for a while she was minding him. He had been very well behaved for a four month old child but ever since the death of his parents  
/he would cry every night when he was pu in bed, and hermione knew that only the love a mother gives could help him.

Every now and again he would change his eye and hair colour as he was a metamorphmagus. Looking after him was tiring but not as tiring as looking after two fully grown empty humans.

It was a lot.

* * *

Hermione started walking into the station. She was wearing black leggings, an oversized dusty pink hoodie and some beige UGGs. Her hair was in a last minute messy bun, she wore a dash of mascara and some lipgloss.

The platform nine and three quarters was a happy place full of children who couldn't wait to return to Hogwarts which had just recently been refurbished.

She looked around searching for a familiar face.

There was none, so she decided to make her way onto the Hogwart's express. Making her way down the corridor she found an empty compartment and put her things on the metal racks overhead.

She took out her MP3and started listening to some music and pulled an potions book to read.

Every now and again students would walk past the compartment door looking in to see if was empty. She would also look up to see if it was anyone she knew, in the hopes of seeing Harry, Ron or maybe even Ginny.

20 minutes passed and Hermione became completely immersed in her book.

She barely even heard the sound of the compartment door sliding open.

"Hermione! It's you!" came the voice of the person who had just walked in.

She looked up.

Harry and Ginny had just walked in with huge smiles on their faces. But when Hermione looked into their eyes she saw worry.

She plastered a grin on her face and did the one thing that might avoid them asking her questions.

Rambling and asking them questions.

"Harry! Ginny! I was looking all over for you. where were you? I had a great Summer down in Australia! It was so sunny. I hope you guys started studying. We have so much to learn this year it would be good to get a headstart. Maybe we should start looking  
/at past papers while we are here. Oh? Where's Ron. Is he ok? It doesn't matter. Have you heard any news about who the new defence against the dark arts?"

Harry smiled.

"Hermione everything is fine. We were walking around the platform looking for you actually. No, I haven't started studying and probably won't until it's at least one month into the school year. Ron is outside with Lavender. Probably sucking her face somewhere  
/hidden from his mother. you know how Molly is."

This earned him a playful slap on the arm from Ginny.

He continued. "Sorry Gin! And to answer your last question, no I have not heard who the new defence against the dark arts teacher was."

Hermione let out a breath she didn't even realize she was holding.

Everything was how she expected. Nothing had changed.

Yet.

She heard a loud bang somewhere down the corridor. Followed be a pained "Ow, bloody hell'

Ginny laughed and put her head on Harry's Shoulder.

'Oh! so they are a thing now.' Hermione thought

"That would be Ron" She said outloud. Causing Harry to start chuckling.

Hermione looked towards the door waiting for Ron to make his grand entrance.

Had she spared a glance to the seats across form her where Harry and Ron were seated, she would have noticed the worried look the worried look they shared before they looked up towards the door with her.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading. Please drop a review. (If you do thanks!) Constructive criticism would be great.**

 **Should I make the chapters longer or are they ok?**


	2. Chapter 2

**an:/ Hey soooooo, last chapter I got 2 reviews and I guess that's good but if you are reading this a review would be great.**

* * *

 **Summary of Chapter 1:  
** _Hermione had a tough Summer and is coming back for her last year at Hogwarts. She met up with Ginny and Harry who are not voicing their concern for her. She is now waiting for Ron to make his grand entrance._

* * *

 **Chapter 2:** Meeting in the corridor.

* * *

"I'm here!" came the voice of the one and only, Ron Weasley.

He looked ruffled. But he still had that stupid grin on his face as if he was the happiest man in the whole entire world.  
His eyes landed on Hermione.

"Mione! How have you been? We haven't heard from you all Summer."

"Great. I um, just came back from Australia actually."

Ginny turns to Hermione,  
"Oh I didn't know. Maybe, it's because you didn't answer any of our owls." She says angrily

"I'm really sorry about that. I was all the way in Australia and since I went there the muggle way I couldn't take my owl."

She looked up.  
Everyone was looking at her in a way she couldn't understand. She also didn't understand why she didnt't just tell them about what actually happened during the Summer.  
 _'Maybe it's because there are so many of them.'_ She thought. _'Yeah, that's probably it?, I will just tell them seperatly'_

"Ok, well I am going to go get changed and I will be right back." She said

"Do you want me to come with you" asks Ginny

"No I'll be fine thanks."

Hermione quickly stood up and walked to the compartment door sliding it open gently. As soon as she has her back to the door she takes a deep breath.

 _'This is gonna be way harder than I though'_

* * *

The Hogwarts express had finally arrived at its destination, and all the students were waiting outside the great hall waiting for the doors to open, which was weird because this had never happened before.

Everyone was chatting away as Hermione stood behind her friends who were whispering. As she looked around she noticed some changes.  
The building had lost a lot of its old charm since it had been completely destroyed. It looked more homey if that was a way to put it. It was comforting. Which was something she hadn't experienced in a long time.  
She then looked around at the students. They were not children anymore. They had matured with the war along with every witch and wizard who had lived through it.

As she was observing everything her eyes were suddenly overwhelmed with the sight of a certain slytherin.  
The slytherin who bullied her through her childhood and made her self-conscious about her hair and teeth. The slytherin whose aunt tortured her and left a scar that would always be there as a reminder. The slytherin who let it happen.  
The slytherin called Draco Malfoy.

The two of them just stood there looking at eachother.  
Her, with a look of fear and déja vu.  
Him, with a look of emptiness and sorrow.

And they stayed staring until their attention was brought to the headmistress, McGonagall who had just appeared.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts everyone. I am here standing outside the great hall to tell you that this year, there will be great changes at Hogwarts. We will be uniting and putting differences aside. Everyone is starting a on a blank sheet. And so, on this note I am telling you that people's pasts wether they were good or bad should be forgotten. The four houses of Hogwarts will be more involved in eachother than ever before."

There was a pause.

"The house system will only be used for points you will no longer be divided into houses for classes you will all be mixed. There is also a new seating arrangment in the hall. The tables are not split in house tables. They are just multiple tables of 10 around the hall."

There was silence.

 _'She must be crazy if she expects me to be all buddy, buddy with any of the slytherins who have ever said anything about me behind my back'_ thought Hermione.

Hermione was brought out of her thoughts when she heard the sound of the doors opening.

* * *

Hermione was sitting at a table with Harry, Ginny, Luna, Neville, Ron, Lavender( Ew), Seamus and Dean. Leaving one seat blank.

 _'Hermione'_

Everyone was talking about how their Summer had been. It seemed to have been pretty good from what she heard while she wasn't zoning out.

' _Hermione'_

Her mind was brought back to earth when she heard Ron calling her name.

"Oh! Um, yes Ron"

"We were just talking about how you have to pass a psychology test before you can start DADA again. Do you know anything more about it seeing as you're basically an information machine on legs?"

 _'A psychology test! Are they kidding me."  
"_No actually I didn't know"

"Oh come on" said Seamus, "Of course you know you're Hermione! You know everything"

There was silence at the table.

"Well apparently it seems that I don't" She said with tears welling up in her eyes.  
She looked down at her food while the silence went on.

"You know what I'm really not hungry anymore, I think I'm gonna head up to my dorm and settle down."

She shot up making her chair fall and started walking away.  
This time instead of the table being silent the whole hall was.  
In the distance she could hear Harry and Ron shouting at Seamus.

"What the bloody hell did you do that for"

This only made her want to get to her dorm quicker so she could get to her room.

As she was running with her head down she crashed into someone

"Granger?"

She looked up.  
She had just walked straight into Blaise Zabini.

"Excuse me, I didn't see you I was just heading up to the head dorms.

"Oh! so you're the head girl I see. Well you are going to love it. I was just up there with Draco, the new head boy, and there is this amazing tower that is like a circle room made of glass windows that you can only look out from but that look like bricks on th outside. Oh and the rooms were amazing. Actually on second thoughts I only saw Draco's not yours. Well I'm gonna head down to the hall to go eat! See ya later Granger"

Now of course had hermione been in a normal state of mind she would have said bye. But she had stopped listening after she heard the words 'Draco' and 'head boy' in the same sentence.

' _Draco Bloody Malfoy is bloody head boy. As if I need my life to be any harder.'_ She thought as a lone tear made its way down her cheek.

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	3. Chapter 3

**An:/ So I'm back and I'm really thankful for the reviewers. It really motivates me to keep going. If you want a mention in this fic PLEASE leave a review! I thought I would update earlier soooo, yeah here I am.**

* * *

 **Summary of chapter 2:** After a small slip from Seamus, Hermione is in tears running up to the head dorms. On her way she bumps into Blais Zabini who discloses the unfortunate information that Draco Malfoy is the new head boy.

* * *

 **Chapter 3:** A helpful painting

* * *

After waiting a few minutes to mentally prepare herself and also to dry her tears she stepped up to the door of the common room for the Heads, and stood there for a few seconds.

 _'shit I forgot the bloody password. Minerva put it in the letter but I can't bloody remember it'_ She thought head in hands.

Suddenly there is the sound of a door opening.

"Oh, Granger. Sorry I was just heading down for dinner I'll be out of here in a second" Draco appologised, swiftly making his way past her.  
He took three long strides before he stopped and without facing here he said,  
"The password is agrippa if you were um, wondering."

And with that he continued on his way to the feast.

Hermione took a step into the common room. It was stunning.

The first thing you saw on your right when you walked in was the cozy sitting room with Silver couches surrounding a red fireplace. On the left was a study area with all of the books from the restricted section of the library.

There were four doorways leading out of the room.  
The one on the right, fireplace was a toilet.  
The middle left was what She presumed to be Draco's room  
Middle right was her bedroom with an en suite

And her favourite room was the door that was on the very left. This lead to a circular room that made of glass from the ceiling to the floor and showed the most beautiful scenery Hermione had ever seen. She could've spent hours just looking at it. And it it completely soothed her, and made her forget all her worries...

Just for a bit.

She stayed there for what seemed minutes but were actually hours.  
When it was around 10 she headed back down the common room with a view of it from a different angle.  
From here she could see something she hadn't noticed before.

A painting of Snape.

Unfortunately for her this painting was placed directly beside her bedroom door.

It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to him. No, she just didn't know what to say to him.

Just as she thought she had made it into the stairway up to her room she heard a soft humming.

 _'Is that Snape?'_

And with that thought she continued up to her dorm.

* * *

It was now running up 3:45 and Hermione was still awake sitting on her bed in the dark.

' _I can't believe I'm Head Girl. There are too many people depending on me. I already had 4 people to look after during the Summer and that was enough for me.'_

She took a deep breath.

 _'What if I'm in class and I forget something again like I did at the feast. What if I'm not good enough to be in this school anymore and they end up taking my wand.'  
_ She changed her seating position so that she was looking out the window of her bedroom.

 _'Oh God! What about the psychology test. what if they don't let me pass and my friends stop associating themselves with me and I'm left...  
with no one. Like I was on the day at Malfoy Manor'_

 _"_ No, no, NO! This isn't happening to me" She said outloud holding her head in her hands.

' _you know what I need? I need some fresh air'_

She got up and put a cardigan over her pyjamas and made her way to the common room. As she is walking through her heart stopped as she stood on a creaky floorboard.

"Granger? What are you doing out of bed at this hour?"

"Ah! Professor Snape" She whispered.

"I asked you a question Granger."

"I was just headjing to get a breath of fresh air"

There was a silence.

"Don't lie to me, I know you can't sleep. I've been there too.  
After the first war against Voldemort and the death of my closest friend Lily Potter, I..."

"You what?"

"I went into a major depression, not talking to anyone, not eating, sleepin and not taking care of myself." He continued.

She stared at him.

' _How could he know what happened to ME. He has no idea.'_

"I know this might be haard to hear but no matter how much you think no cares about you, they do.  
You are so lucky to not have been placed in a house where everyone is prejudice and your feelings have to be bottled up.  
You have the chance to tell people. And I advise you do before something serious happens to you."

 _'He can't say much he's dead. This is a painting it's not even the real deal'_

"I can't say I have any idea why you have these problems but all I can say is that sleeping helps. There are sleeping potions in the bottom left drawer in the study area take one spoonful from a bottle and you'll have a dreamless sleep."

"Thank you sir" She whispered as she gave into him.

"You will be okay Hermione. I promise"

* * *

Hermione had brought the sleeping potion to the room she dubbed 'The Glass Room'. She looked up at the stars and forgot about everything as she took a dose of the potion.

 _'Maybe it would be better if I told someone at Hogwarts._  
 _I've already told George. And telling him hadn't been that bad.'_

 _'But on second thoughts, he had problems too so it was sort of an exchange and I know he won't tell anyone because...  
He doesn't talk to anyone.'_

As she felt the drowsiness of the potion kicking in, one of the last things she thought of was not about how hard her life was at the moment but of how uncomfortable and cold the floor of 'The Glass Room' was.

And with that thought she fell fast asleep.

* * *

 **an:/ any predictions?**

 **Also thanks to guest and Neatherstar for leaving a review last chapter.  
I really appreciate it!**

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	4. Chapter 4

**An:/Hey I'm back. I'm really enjoying the reviews even if there aren't many, the few that I have I appreciate. I'm obsessed with writting this and even if you don't like it, I'm doing it for myself (and the people who enjoy it).**

* * *

 **Chapter 3 summary:** Hermione explores her new Dorm and finds 'The Glass Room'. After hours of trying to sleep she eventually leaves her room only to be caught by a painting. She obtains slepping potion and falls into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

Hermione woke up and removed the grey blanket from herself.

Last night had been one of the first peaceful nights she had had in a month.  
Although she could have sworn she heard something in the middle of the night.

Strange.

She got up and made her way down to the Heads' common room.

While she was on her way to her bedroom to put her robes on she saw the figure of Malfoy making his way to the great hall.

"Oh, um good morning Gran...  
Good morning."

"Oh so after all the efforts of the bloody war you still can't say the name of a muggleborn. Or should I say mudblood."

She closed her eyes for a second to contain herself. Had she kept them open for a split second she would have seen him flinch at the last word in the sentence.

"what the bloody hell was it all for? For people like you to just continue to be prejudice arses." She continued

Draco froze and turned to Hermione with a hint of a smirk on his face.

"You really think that?"

"Think what?"

"That I can't say your name because I am being prejudice."

There was a pause while she gave him a death glare.

"Fine, keep thinking that. Whatever helps you sleep at night" He grunted before continuing out the door.

After him leaving Hermione stood there for a minute in shock just processing their thirty second long conversation she had just had with Malfoy.

 _'He didn't even defend himself. And he used a mu'_

* * *

Once she finally reached the great hall's doors she saw that there was a large commotion around the activities board.

She walked up to the crowd and asked one of the second year students what was going on.

"The time slots for the psychology tests were up"

 _'Good Godric, I forgot about it.'_

 _"_ Okay everyone clear the way, keep it moving. The slot sheet will still be up in an hour come back and check in a bit when it's not so busy." She yelled.

The crowd of students made it's way into the hall, which was still divided tables of ten which were no longer divided by house.

After the small dilema that had happened with her friends yesterday she felt quite anxious and scared about going into the hall. So she decided to stall and look at her slot on the board.

 _'9.15! That's now. Well, looks like I'll have to talk to them another time.'_

She was already behind schedule so she had to run all the way to the classroom where these tests were taking place.  
She was just about to enter the classroom when...

She hit into someone.

"Granger. We have got to stop meeting like this."

"Hi Zabini. Are you finished in there or should I wait inside?"

"Oh, no appology? He grinned

"Sorry." She mumbled

"I was kidding, go on in we just finished."

"Okay thanks."

* * *

She walked in to the room.  
It was small but it felt spacious. Instead of chairs there were brightly coloured cushions.  
And on one of these cushions was a man in a casual outfit beaming up at her.

"Hermione Granger. What a pleasure to meet you. My name is O'Malley, I will be seeing if you are eligible to continue with Defence against the Dark Arts. If you are, then I will give you a permission slip to bring to your new teacher, but unless you get that slip then you are not allowed to attend the classes and will have to keep coming here until I say so. I would also like to add that everything you say in this room will stay in this room unless it could endanger yourself or other people. In that case I would be going to the Headmistress."

This made Hermione uneasy.

"Yes sir" She said in a quiet voice."

He took in a deep breath and rearanged his seating position so that his legs were crossed.

"OK lets start. I heard that you along with Ron Weasley and Harry Potter dropped out of school last year, is this true?"

"Yes."

"Can you explain to me what you were doing."

"We were trying to find Voldemort's horcruxes."

"After having spoken to both Harry and Ron they both said this journey took a toll on everyone. Do you agree with them?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

There was a pause.  
For a second he looked up at her before writing something down. They sound of the pen scratching against the paper was the only sound that could be heard in the room.

Hermione was completely lost in her head with the memories of that journey.

Of how they almost died on multiple occasions.

How Ron left them when they needed him.

How she was tortured.

 _"Hermione"_

She looked down at her arm which was covered by her robe.  
She seemed to be doing this more and more.

For some reason looking at it made it all seem better, but at the same time haunt her. She just didn't understand.

" _Hermione Granger"_

She was woken up from her trance by the sound of her name.

"You don't have to talk if you don't want to."

She nodded as a sign of gratitude.

"I heard that you knew a lot of the people who died in the Order and at Hogwarts."

There was another silence.

Hermione stood up.

"I'm sor...

"NO!" Hermione cut across.  
"Everyone knew someone who died. Everyone did."

Tears were starting to appear in the corners of her eyes.

"I'm done here. Tell the professors to come get me when they find a real doctor to come interrogate us!"

And with that she slammed the door behind her as she walked down to the kitchens to get something to eat.

* * *

After grabbing an apple from the kitchens Hermione made her way to Herbology class.

Once she was excused for being late by professor Sprout she promptly sat down beside Ginny who was the only girl Hermione was familiar with in the class.

She pulled out her textbook and started reading the page they were on.  
They were learning about the Alihotsy tree, also known as the hyena tree, which causes uncontrolable laughter if you touch the leaves.

"So." Ginny whispered  
"How was the meeting with O'Malley?"

"Horrible. He was almost worse than Skeeter with all those stupid questions."

"Oh really? Harry and Ron seemed to think differently. They thought it was pretty soothing."

Hermione looked at the pages of her textbook as if she was reading them.

 _'Of course they would think that. Dr.O'Malley probably adores them.'_

"On a side note Hermione, have you seen Zabini this year. He is smokin' hot"

* * *

 **an:/ thank you so much for the support. I would be really grateful if you left a review.  
**

 **When is everyone starting school again?**


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